As a company grows from 25 to 50 to 100 to 200 to 500 to 1000 people, the characteristics of who is the very best talent in leadership roles will change. It’s rarely the case that your leadership team at 1000 people is the same leadership team you had at 25 people.—Brad Feld

Many people, companies, and organizations are trying to protect the past at any cost. We see this regularly in business as the incumbent vs. innovator fight, but I think it’s more profound than that. It’s literally a difference in point of view.—Brad Feld

A typical leader has – a natural tendency is to be defensive in the face of a crisis. The first reaction is to blame someone – or something – else. Often, the blame is aimed at something abstract or non-controllable, which often has nothing to do with the crisis but is adjacent to whatever is going on, so it’s an easy target.—Brad Feld

If the crisis lasts moments, rapid action is critical. But if it’s simply the beginning of a broader issue, especially one where the root cause isn’t known yet, the worst thing a leader can do is act immediately.—Brad Feld

This is something I’ve struggled with a lot: how to relate to the fear in a constructive way. It’s not that you eliminate the fear. We have all the fears. That’s natural; that’s human beings. But how do you deal with the fears, how do you engage with your fears in a way that’s productive?—Brad Feld

For those trying to protect the past, it is a way of retaining power, status, money, a way a life, predictability, comfort, control, and a bunch of other things like that. It is a struggle against the inevitability of change.—Brad Feld

It’s actually not possible to spend 100% of your energy on your venture. Begin by realizing that as a human you have to sleep, so at least some percentage of the time will be spent ‘resting’. If you want to go deeper on this thread, you have to eat also. Once you start to understand this, then you quickly realize that to sustain an intense work pace over a long period of time, you need to nourish ‘yourself’ separate from your venture, whether this means exercise, a relationship, or something else.—Brad Feld